I never get tired of bragging about the students at Elmwood-Murdock High School, especially when my son and daughter are involved. Here our choir performs at the district music contest the song “Things That Never Die”. They received “1’s” from all three judges receiving the highest score of a 1+ for the second year in a row. Twelve schools competed and only two schools received the high score.
For your listening pleasure here is the video from my YouTube Channel.
If you have followed previous articles you know we are a small rural school district from a community of less than a thousand people in Eastern Nebraska. Our high school has a student body population of less than 120 students. That’s approximately thirty students in each graduating class. To have this many students (almost 50%) in choir is simply amazing and the credit has to go to Mrs. Betty Colbert our choir director.
She has made choir “cool” and coaches the students to find their voice. Many students sang solos at districts (including my son) and the girls sang Italian Sonatas earning top scores. The students participate in honor choirs and learn from top vocal practitioners in the field. In 2009 they even were invited and sang at Carnegie Hall, an experience I’ll never forget.
Glee Has Made High School Music Cool
The television show Glee and movie High School Musical and Pitch Perfect has helped make high school choir and singing cool again. That and American Idol. It doesn’t matter why, but I’m glad. Many people have made fun of Glee and don’t like the mashup covers of popular songs but it has elevated music programs around the country. Glee style show choirs are extremely popular
Glee – The Complete Series
Pitch PerfectPitch PerfectAugust RushHigh School Musical 2High School Musical 1-3
Music in Our Schools
That is an amazing stat. I homeschooled my kids for years but when they went to highschool, it was a very small rural one and we loved it. There’s was more geared to agriculture and showing animals but our oldest son was in the band.
All 1’s! That is quite an accomplishment indeed. I remember the old choir days and can’t help but think that they are lucky to have the choir teacher that they have been blessed with.
Thanks for the comments. We are indeed blessed with a wonderful community that supports our music program. They have choir and band everyday. So many schools have cut this to a few times a week.
Stay tuned for the spring concert coming up.